FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the use of an opioid antagonist such as naltrexone in combination with one or more serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT) or norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor(s) and/or lithium to treat mental or emotional disorders characterized by depression, obsessiveness, depression with anxiety, mania, manic depression, depression with manic episodes, and depression concomitant with an illness causing seizures which are inhibited by carbamazepine, or a combination of any of these mental or emotional illnesses, or mental or emotional illnesses with seizures. The inventor has discovered that naltrexone is useful in combination with lithium and/or one or more serotonin (5-HT) uptake inhibitor and/or norepinephrine (N.E.) uptake inhibitor drug compounds in treating patients whose depression and/or associated mental illnesses or conditions were refractory to drug treatment using one or more known antidepressant agents or agents for manic and manic depressive disorders such as lithium, and tricyclic and a-typical antidepressants including, but not limited to clomipramine, amitriptyline, imipramine, sertraline and nortriptyline that inhibit 5-HT and/or N.E. reuptake.
The inventor has further discovered that such treatment using naltrexone in combination with lithium and/or 5-HT or N.E. reuptake inhibitors is effective even where benzodiazepines are concurrently administered to treat anxiety. Additionally, the inventor has discovered that lithium in combination with naltrexone in some cases reduces manic and manic depressive bipolar symptoms.